I always classified myself as 4A. I am confused about the hair typing system anyway... For the past two week that I have been co-washing my hair and just running water through it; it seems to have changed a bit. it seems curlier than it usually is. My hair normally has singled out curls, like the way the sides of my hair look, but the top seems to have clumped. I have never seen my hair do this by just co-washing. What do you think my hair type is? Here are two pictures of my co-washed hair. Sorry the Pictures are so big. . .

I got a crazy head of hair. The difference between the top and sides are night and day lol. I do not know what the back looks like at all. So, I guess my sides are 4A and the top is 3B or C or a mixture of both .

I have been trying to find products to work with my hair, but it is so hard. Nothing works and It is always dry. The only thing that works best that I have tried so far is Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel. On top of that trying to find a styling technique for my hair. The top is easier to work with than my sides. Right now I have 2 1/2 inches at the top and 2 inches on the sides. Will it get easier the longer it gets? Also is there anyway I can make my hair soft with gel? like putting a leave in under it or something? Because gel always makes my hair hard.

I don't know if it will get easier as it gets longer since I just big chopped on 07/24/12. I can tell you this. My top and back are 3b. My sides when I started were 4a but now 3c and I honestly believe that's because it is not my true hair texture but actually scab hair. I say this because the sides of my hair were severely damaged with the use of relaxer prior to going natural. My hair was also EXTREMELY dry when I started but co-washing daily helped. I don't use products with sulphates or silicones. I now get all-day moisture (yay). Using regular conditioner as a leave-in helps the gel crunch. What porosity is your hair? My hair has high porosity and LOVES protein. If you have low porosity protein will dry out your hair (so I've read). What products do you use?

I pre poo with V05 Moisture Milks conditioner. I co-wash with Tresseme Naturals jojoba and coconut. I rinse this out completely and apply EVOO and Suave Naturals coconut conditioner. I wait about 2-3 minutes and then apply Eco Styler gel. Sounds like a lot but only takes around 10-15 minutes. When I co-wash I use circular motion on my scalp seems to help a lot. My hair is crunchy when I use Eco Styler clear gel but not crunchy when I use Eco Styler olive oil gel following the exact same routine. Go figure. Either way my hair doesn't dry out anymore. It took about two weeks of this daily routine to get the all day moisture and was worth it. :-)

Well, The only products I have is Eco styler and tressame professional conditioner. I believe my hair is low porosity. My hair is medium texture but at the back top part of my hair and the upper back part feels kinda thin. Well, it's not as thick as the rest of my hair. I thought I was losing hair at first. Thank you for showing a picture of short hair because I wanted to see what 3C or 3B hair looked like short.

You're welcome regarding posting pictures and thank you regarding compliment on my hair. I like your hair as well. :-)

I have high porosity, low density, medium width hair so my routine probably won't work for you.

I did find a YouTube video about low porosity that might help. Your Eco Styler olive oil should be ok because it is protein free. The other Eco Stylers have hydrolyzed wheat protein so stay away from those. I bought Garnier Pure Clean conditioner. It has no protein and may be a good leave in for you. I didn't realize it was no protein at the time I bought it and my hair scoffed at it. It has no silicones or sulfates which dries out natural hair for most. The sulfate dries it because it strips the hair. The silicones layer the scalp so moisture can't penetrate the follicles as needed with our hair type. Silicones end with -cone, -conol, and -xane. Check your hair products. :-)

Thanks! I am now trying to figure out a way to style the back of my hair so it won't clump so much. Yes, I know what the back looks like now. What I mean by clump is my curls get stuck together almost looking like I twist it. So then I have to pull the curls from each other. Is there anything I can do about this or I just have to live with it.

What hair type does the back of my hair look like? Also does it look like twists or just clumped curls?

See how crazy my head is? It's all kind of textures and types mixed in here...

The back looks like a combination of 3c/4a. It does look like you finger coiled the back but it's not a bad look. I think you should try co-washing for a week to see how it works for you. If you're willing try this:

1. Clarify your hair with a shampoo free of silicones but still has sulfates. You need the sulfates to wash out the silicones.
2. For the rest of the week, co-wash daily using a sulfate-free/silicone free conditioner like Garnier Pure Clean conditioner (one free of protein since you're low porosity).
3. Dry your hair using an old t-shirt (even a pillow case). Towels fibers rip the hair.
4. Consider doing a pre poo (this can be done with olive oil or another oil...not coconut because it contain protein). This helps to moisturize your hair follicles to prepare it for co-washing.
5. Choose a conditioner to leave-in (protein free). Put this on in the shower so that your hair cuticle will be open from the steam and help to moisturize your hair (due to the low porosity).
6. Keep using your Eco Styler olive oil gel (because it doesn't contain protein).

I think if you do this your curl pattern will start to become more cohesive. This is part of the Curly Girl Method (not really just for women...just the name of the book). You can also check out this book at your local library. Choose the second edition because it has a section for men. It's by Lorraine Massey. It took me two weeks to see any moisture but I think it's because I forgot to clarify my hair the first week (to big of a hurry to get started and went straight to co-washing), :-)

I forgot to mention that I also deep condition once a week and shampoo with a sulfate-free shampoo to remove any residue on my scalp from the conditioner (co-washings). I use Shea Moisture Hydrating Deep Treatment Masque. :-)

Thank you so much! You have been a great help answering my many questions lol. Sorry about that. I will try that conditioning for a week method. I just don't want these finger coil looking curls to turn into dreads. I guess when my hair gets longer it won't look like this. Because if I pull it; it makes an S shape. Thank you again for helping me.